Darlington Apple Festival

The Apple Festival has always been a celebration of the character and pride of the Darlington Community. Even before the idea was first conceived, Darlington was the home of community-spirited people who responded to the needs of its schools, churches and citizens. Then, in 1986, three well-intended Darlington locals with an entrepreneurial bent, thought up the AppleFest. In the years before the first Applefest, the Darlington United Methodist Church held a spring strawberry festival as a fundraiser and a time to bring good friends together. They eventually morphed the spring strawberry event to a fall apple event. Meanwhile, the Darlington Country Store was holding a fall festival. It seemed like a good idea to combine the two events into a glorious day. Each year the festival has grown with new attractions and new organizations joining in. It is now the largest single day event in Harford County, drawing an average of 50,000 visitors per year for the past several years. Still, it is organized by an “All Volunteer” group of individuals.